Hunting Shadows
by Living In My Imagination
Summary: When your past is filled with shadows and your nightmares begin to seep into your waking life, there's not much you can do but turn and face what's haunting you. Max must make a choice to either save her flock from the secrets she has kept by becoming the very thing she's been running from her whole life, or be hunted by those who failed to destory her as a child. Rated M.
1. Confession in Blood Black Ink

**Hunting Shadows**

Hunting Shadows _is a re-write of an older fanfic of mine, previously entitled _Family Secrets_ and I've decided to basically start again because despite the fact I haven't uploaded in an eternity, I am determined to finish it and do the story I had in mind justice. However, after re-reading my original fic I decided it was fairly amateurish both in writing and in plot (let's be honest there was some seriously gaping holes in that thing!) So if you were a fan of the original, please give this a chance, it's darker, deeper and much more of an adventure than before with the same basic elements so it's still the story you liked, plus since I've re-done the plot it now has a decisive ending! And if you're new to this fic or me as an author, please note that I genuinely believe the more you critique/tell me the bits you love the more enjoyable I can make the story for you! (I swear I don't say I take constructive criticism well and then bite. Promise!) And feel free to nag me if I don't upload enough!_

_So yeah, if you've read the original please give this a chance! And if not, dive in and let me know what you think. Also, just a heads up this is set before _Fang_ so really after the Hawaiian adventure in _Max_, however I've aged them all several years because I felt that really the plot I had in mind required them to be a little older than they were when I've veered away from the novels._

_Peace out and enjoy,_

_-H _

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**Confession**

I can still see the brilliant flashes of light. The muffled screams and gunpowder stench haunt my dreams alongside shadow-cloaked figures and rivers of blood. Violence was a close companion of mine growing up; much like an imaginary friend, I found solace in its brutal simplicity and faithfulness. You see, before the flock, before the rise of ITEX, before the very beginnings of the Maximum Ride adventures you all know, there was another kind of company in power. A company not content with breaking the boundaries of science in bids to rule the world, but the kind that preferred to gather the very best of weaponry and instead serve those already in power. This was the life I was destined for before the whole world-saving hullabaloo kicked in.  
Before Maximum Ride there was another persona, another girl. And she lost everything.

It all began at the School, of course. My story still begins with the flock I now call my family. Except in my memories there is another child trapped in the dog crate beside mine; a character that didn't make it as far as the days of the flock. His name was Freddie, and he was my brother.  
The story goes, that before the School and ITEX were powerful enough to stand alone, they funded their research through various detestable means, one of which included creating and selling hybrid children to the company mentioned above: They called themselves SHADE and if it's an acronym I never learned its meaning, only its purpose. Their subjects were gathered from institutions such as the School and they would only accept the very best. So not to sound big-headed, but that's how Freddie and I really enter the picture. Jeb always insisted I was created with the purpose to eventually save the world from humanity and to lead the next generation of beings. I wasn't just being stubborn when I told him I knew he was spewing bullshit you know. Because if that had been my sole purpose I wouldn't have become part of SHADE, leaving behind the lab for a life of rigorous training in martial arts and weaponry, of comradeship and cold-calculating murder. To put it simply we were assassins of the most sinister kind. Children with special abilities put together in private militia units. We were known as Shadows because we moved like them; never seen, never caught and untouchable. And Freddie and I were the crown jewels of our generation of Shadows... back then I was known as Ryder, the Maximum stuff came much later, and I was trained to kill without hesitation and trust no one but my unit. I know it doesn't sound like the girl you've all come to know, but that was my life for a long time.  
In the end compassion was both my downfall and my saviour. I was built to serve as a machine of death, but the one major flaw was my conscience that never would just quit niggling at me. And then, as I said, I lost it all. SHADE was forced underground when the companies like ITEX that served them gained more power, and the Shadow units were thrown into chaos. I would have most likely ended up either dead or a rogue killer at the age of thirteen, if I hadn't been forced to witness the heart-crushing murder of my other half.

That's when Ryder withdrew, and the nickname my unit had jokingly knighted me became my life. Instead of a machine I was drawn back into the ugly world of ITEX and the entangling web of destiny; I became Maximum Ride, the poster-girl for world peace etc, etc. And my life of senseless killing was left behind me, with the fragments of my brother's memory.  
Over the years the flock and I have fallen into the habit of forgetting that I was even away. It's easier for everyone if my time with SHADE remains forgotten. Since I changed my name upon return, only a handful of people working for ITEX, Jeb being the main one, actually knew that I was the same child they sold to become an assassin. It's safer if the past stays locked away and after everything the flock has been through, together we all reached the unspoken agreement that really it didn't matter anymore. Only I should have known better. While I can pretend that my entire childhood until Jeb's miraculous rescue was spent in that dog crate, the truth will always be that from the ages of six to thirteen I didn't exist in the School. If only I had accepted that you cannot outrun the past, then this confession might not have been needed, you would all have known the truth, and it wouldn't have come as such a shock, when the slithering shadowy hand of SHADE came knocking again all these years later. If I can pull this adventure off with everyone I love intact it will be a miracle, so if you're ready my faithful readers, who I hope haven't judged me too harshly, hold on tight, because we're going back to the way things were, and it's not going to be an easy flight.

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**Blood Black Ink**

I stared down at the pages of neat script. The paper was heavy and smelled as if it had been torn from an ancient leather-bound book. Something about it made me smile subconsciously; I could picture him in a chair beside a fireplace, hastily scrawling away with a fountain pen before tearing the page from behind the cover, half concealed in shadows, the ink splattering over his hands... the smile began to ebb as I considered the implications of the letter. Considered what it meant that I was picturing him alive and not as I remembered him; lying stone cold dead in a pool of blood as the building and my world burned.  
The floor was freezing underneath my bare legs. I was cross-legged in the middle of the bathroom, the letter balancing on my knee, rivets of water running down my back and soaking my tank top from my newly washed hair. My gloriously long shower had been interrupted by Nudge's pounding on the door. I had a letter. Now in most normal households this wouldn't require noisemakers and an over-excited fifteen year old, but the flock isn't exactly normal, and we don't get mail, like, ever. Because mail requires somebody other than the government, who don't write but have an annoying habit of just showing up, to have our address.  
So my shower was cut short, and I spent twenty minutes arguing about security with Fang and Mason (he's like the head of our guard, more on that later) before I got to slam the bathroom door in their faces and open the damn thing. Of course I'd had no idea who it was from until I'd started reading.  
I drew a shaky breath once I'd reached the parting line for the third time, and jumped about a foot when there was a sudden fist hitting the door, "Max! Was I right to want to screen it for deadly toxins and should be calling an ambulance, or do you have a secret pen-pal you need to admit to?" I rolled my eyes in Fang's direction though he couldn't see me and replied, "I'll be out in a minute, my shower was interrupted remember. Try not to break down the door!"  
I could hear him muttering as he moved off down the corridor towards my room, where he would undoubtedly wait impatiently like a frowning piece of marble. My heart did a kind of mini-seizure when I thought about what his reaction might be like. My hands started to tremble and I pulled a towel off the heated rail to wrap around my shoulders... having to put PJs back on after a shower wasn't the best way to avoid a cold.  
My attention was drawn back to the letter that seemed to shine like a guilty beacon. What did this mean? He couldn't be writing to me from beyond the grave, so at the very least the message was an incredibly cruel joke, or at the worst, a dire threat. Either way it wasn't something I could just ignore. The words shimmered and in the cold morning light there seemed a reddish tinge to the signature at the bottom; signed in blood. It wasn't a threat, it was a promise. My time to panic was running out.  
The shock of the discovery wore off and suddenly I was drained of energy and afraid. I dropped the letter to the floor, put my head in my arms and sobbed.

My emotional outburst didn't last long. I couldn't afford to spend the morning crying hysterically on the bathroom floor, though that's exactly what I felt like doing. Someone claiming to be my brother had found us where we were supposedly safe and protected. To catch you up I'll explain quickly: After our adventure in Hawaii –you remember it, where our nemesis-of-the-day Mr Chu was dumping radioactive waste in the ocean and took my mom hostage in a James-Bond style underwater lair that forced Fang and I to accept we had developed a talent like Angel's and spend more time that I would have liked swimming around with some seriously deformed fish- the flock and I decided (unanimously) that it was time for a break from the world-saving headache. And so the nice Government people that were still trying to sweeten us up to jump through their hoops (it's been four years and they still haven't succeeded) built us a house. Well, I say house, really it's a palace of sandstone and slate roofs, it even has a tower-looking thing that stays open to the sky so we can fly in and out easily. They named it _White Feather Mansion_ and while I'm not going to tell you where they built it, I will say it's practically impossible to get to as the only road in and out is patrolled by Secret Service agents, and it's surrounded by dense woodland and situated at the base of a cliff. Really they gave us a fortress... personally I think they're just trying to keep us out of society while we're not cooperative.  
Regardless of their motivation, our Mansion doesn't feel like a prison. In fact the complete opposite is true. We don't have guardians or grown-ups to boss us around. They tried that and it lasted all of two seconds. The closest thing we have to adult supervision is our bodyguard Mason. While the rest of security patrols the land but doesn't come near the house, he's the single link we have to the outside world, and surprisingly, he's become a part of our dysfunctional family almost like he was meant to. We've stayed in _White Feather_ since Hawaii –I think the only time I left with the exception of going for some free-lance flying was to visit my mom, and since I said I'd explain quickly I won't go into why we're no longer speaking right now- and in our haven we've become more educated, since the Government were nice enough to give us unlimited internet access and a fully stocked library that I'm pretty sure the Gasman believes is just a rumour since he's never set eyes on it. We've also honed our abilities at sucking at cooking (mostly in my case), spotting potentially dangerous situations (the Gasman attempting laundry was never going to be the smartest idea) and we've picked up some new skills (while Nudge swears she's getting better at the guitar, Iggy actually isn't bad on the piano) but you get the picture. We've grown and matured and lived like normal people for a while -if y'know instead of normal, normal kids we were the children of someone who needed 24/7 President-of-the-United-States-worthy-protection normal... My point was that despite all this apparent world-class security, my past was able to sneak under the radar and bite me in the ass, and if the letter-writer could find me and warn me about the Hunters well... is seems likely that they will find us eventually too. Whether I liked it or not, I was back in the Hunt, and this time the flock were in it with me.

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_This was just a taster to give you an idea of what's coming -especially if you read the original- so if you'd like to tell me what you liked a didn't like, what you understood and what wasn't explained properly, or just give me some friendly encouragement so my emails remind me to actually upload every now and again, please review. I want to know what _you _think. :) -H_


	2. Bedtime Shadows

_The reason I re-wrote what I had and came up with this fanfic _Hunting Shadows _is because I felt I now had more to offer the story both in terms of writing skill and plot development. This is fairly short chapter with another, long one to follow close behind and if you enjoyed the first Confession I put up I'm hoping you'll continue to read on... but please do let me know what you think! It won't get any better if you don't tell me how I can fix it :) _

_Oh and just in case the re-writing of this worried any readers of my other fics, I do have a re-write currently planned for one other, but the rest I'm not yet giving up on and if you like my current writing style there are quite a few new fics on the way too! _

_-H_

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**Bedtime Shadows**

That night I went to tuck Angel in. It doesn't matter how old we get, she'll always be my baby. As I pulled the covers up to chin, thinking once again how lucky we were to finally have the safety of _White Feather _and a warm, comfortable bed every night, she suddenly asked, "Will you tell it to me again, Max?"I smoothed the soft blanket down over the edges of her bed and feigned ignorance, "Tell you what again, sweetie?" Angel rolled her eyes and I silently agreed that I really shouldn't be lying to a mind-reader._You know exactly what, Max. _Her angelic blue eyes bored into mine and I felt about a-hundred years old. _The first time you ever spoke about the Shadows you told it like a story, I was young but I remember you telling Nudge and Gazzy. You made it sound like it wasn't real so you didn't frighten us, but if they're coming back for you we need to know the truth about them now. We need to know how to fight-_"We're not going to fight them, Angel," I said sharply and then made my tone gentler, "We're going to hide from them, you don't win against the Hunters.""Not even you?""Especially not me. They've already taken the person I cared about most in the world, Ange, they are not going to have the slightest chance of hurting you and the flock. I won't let that happen."She was quiet for a minute, "You're not planning on giving yourself up to spare us, are you Max?"In fact the thought had occurred to me earlier, after my pithy little episode on the bathroom floor. Wouldn't it just be easier if I ran to redirect their focus? But the single thought that made me stay put was that if I was gone there would be no one around who really knew the Hunters and their game. They would come after the flock just to get to me, just to hurt me more. I had to stay if only so I can offer myself a bargaining chip last minute, at least they would be spared and my sacrifice would seem less cowardice. If I stood between the Hunters and my flock, at least I would die knowing I had done everything I could to save them. Of course I thought about none of this in front of Angel. Instead I said, "No sweetie, I'm not going anywhere just now. There's safety in numbers."She snuggled down into her pillows and asked softly again, "Will you tell it me, Max? I'm not afraid of bedtime stories anymore."I forced myself to smile and stroke the wispy hair of her fringe off of her forehead so I could kiss her goodnight. "Okay then, close your eyes and I'll tell you the story of the Shadow Siblings."

_Once upon a time, unknown to the world of regular people, grown-ups and the Government, there was a secret facility known as the School. The School was run by a group of evil scientists who -if they had put their genius to good- could have cured disease, fixed Global Warming and created suitable everyday jetpacks, so that they didn't have to graft wings on the back of innocent children so that humanity could fly. The only problem facing these scientists who worked for a company called ITEX was that -and I'll put it bluntly- they were flat broke. The only way they could afford to fund their research was to create successful Hybrids and sell them to another company -one that was specialised not in mutants but in weapons. Human weapons. SHADE gathered to them the most unique and gifted individuals they could find and loaned them to less-than-savoury tasks. One of the purchases SHADE made from the School was a pair of flying Hybrid children; twins, brother and sister whose oringial names were lost somewhere in the paperwork, but came to be known as Freddie and Ryder. Ryder was the more bloodthirsty of the two. She learned very young that there was a trick to shutting off her conscience and this allowed her to move from hit to hit without so much as blinking an eye. Her brother was the opposite, he had no particular like or dislike for the life of killing and slaughter, his only strong feelings were that his sister would become lost as a Shadow, and so together they made the perfect team. Ryder could motivate Freddie to use his skills and training in a way no one else could, and in return he saved her humanity by reminding her to switch her conscience back on once the job was done. They grew quickly through the ranks of SHADE, impressing Shadows years older than them with their method and agility. Soon their Unit of Shadows was the youngest in history to reach the highest ranks of the company and they were unstoppable. Until one day, the company that had sold them to SHADE in the first place, found sponsors among the rich and greedy. No longer dependant on selling children to SHADE -who had never found a pair they favoured as much as Ryder and Freddie- they plotted with other companies of their ilk to get rid of the multi-billion dollar assassin agency and their Shadows. This became known as the Reaping. It came from nowhere, not one Shadow, not one of the most cunning and ruthless associates in the world saw it coming. SHADE had been blinded by its success and was vulnerable because of its secrecy. Who would miss a company no one had heard of? Who would miss the freaks who killed for them? It was a regular day just like every other when the reports came wasn't with her Unit that day. Before the Reaping she had faced an attack from one of her own, an attack brutal enough to shake from her the confidence in her ability to fight, an attack that killed something inside her that she wasn't sure she would ever get back. And in her shame and fear she had kept her silence, until the day of the Reaping- when she heard the screams of her Unit dying. they used to joke that there was two girls, you see. Freddie started it, he called them Ryder -the fierce and cruel warrior- and Maxi- a girl with a soul, a girl who knew what it was like to be hurt. None of them faced the true Ryder until that day. None of them had truly seen the beast that resided in the dead heart of this girl who resembled Maxi and fought like a savage. It didn't matter who stood in her way that day. Friend of foe, if they weren't part of her Unit they fell at her feet- because Ryder knew something that no one else in SHADE knew. The attack she had kept silent about out of shame had come because they had all been betrayed- the threat he had whispered still echoed through her mind and she knew what was waiting for her in the burning shell of SHADE's headquarters before she found him. The day of the Reaping was the day that Ryder was both freed and killed. The anger and panic that drove her to her brother brought out the most potent villain, and the sight of his lifeless, burned body put it out again like snuffing out a candle. In death Freddie had succeeded in bringing his sister back to her humanity, no one ever heard Ryder hurt like they did when she found Freddie. She would have died that day if the anger had returned- but it was love for her brother and fear that his memory would be lost with her that drove her to bury Ryder deeper inside of her than she thought possible. How could she surface again when there was no one to bring her back? Both girls died with Freddie that day, and out of the ashes came Maximum Ride with the worst traits from both; compassionate yet consumed by anger and never again whole..._

"...or so the story goes anyway," I cleared my throat and looked down to see that Angel was fast asleep. She had dosed off in the first minute I'd been speaking but it didn't matter. I kissed her forehead again and turned off the bedside lamp. "Sleep well Angel."


	3. Blinding Stars

_As always please review... I like to know what y'all think :) _

_-H_

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**Blinding Stars**

I closed Angel's door as quietly as I could and went to find Fang who was -predictably- leaning outside my bedroom door. I brushed past him without a word and curled up on the windowseat, breathing in the cool air from the open window and wishing I could just take off and go for a long fly to think things through. However since the arrival of the letter -which Fang was re-reading for the billionth time- our security had been tightened and just now my midnight take-offs were a no go. I sighed overly dramatically and he took the hint, folding the letter and placing it on my knee.  
"I don't like it." He's said that about a billion-and-one-times too.  
I waited until he had collapsed beside me to say, "Me either, but sitting tight with a bunch new rules is something I don't like either."  
"I thought you always pushed the 'lie-low and remain inconspicuous' plan." He was teasing me, trying to make me smile but it didn't work. He sighed softly, "Look Max I don't want to be told to stay inside all the time either, that wasn't why we came to _White Feather_- but," he went on when I tried to interrupt, "This time it really is in our best interests, we can't lose you Max, I can't lose you. So I'm siding with Mason on this one, I'm sorry." He traced the side of my arm gently before pulling me into his chest, "I really am, but I won't lose you to the past."  
I decided to stop being so hard on him then partly because he was right -if it was the other way around I'd have locked him in a bullet-proof basement until I tracked down the Hunters and gave them a what-for- but also because since the stupid letter had arrived three days ago all we'd been doing was arguing and pushing each other away. If the Hunters really were back and coming for me, I wasn't going to die mad at Fang. I turned my head so I could look up at him; together we were curled up on the windowseat and he was the only thing keeping me warm, "I'm sorry too, Fang. I'm so stressed about the flock's safety... I just wish that this wasn't all my fault. The Hunters are coming for me, not any of you, but I'm selfish enough that I don't want to do this alone."  
"You don't get a choice," he told me. "Even if you sent the flock away, you'd have to kill me before you'd leave me behind."  
"I'll keep that in mind," I muttered and he grinned. "I'm glad to see you're in a better mood," I told him and he bent his head to kiss me.  
"Now that I know you're not going to run off and I don't have to lie in bed with one eye open every night just to make sure my mood shall be greatly improved."  
I snorted, "One eye open my ass, Fang. You sleep heavier than a log these days."  
"Only because I had to learn to ignore how much you toss and turn," he shot back. "You could always just tell me about the nightmares you know. They're just dreams."  
I stayed quiet. They weren't just dreams, they were memories. Flashes of fire and screaming. A letter dripping in blood. A dark room with a figure leaning over me, pressing me down, choking off my air supply and whispering in my ear, "_You have more to lose than you think, Ryder. I'll prove it to you one day_."

I shivered violently and Fang pulled me closer, this time the words I heard whispered in my ear were not cold, calculating and bone-chilling. Instead I felt Fang's warm, spiced breath move my hair as he said softly, "I love you Max, nothing can change that; not the past, not anything you've done, and nothing in our future. I promise, we'll work this out. Trust me."  
Of course that had to be the moment when the wailing of the activated security system went off and all hell broke loose.  
As protocol dictated the flock and I were supposed to head to the bunker when the alarms sounded and all the flood lights outside burst into life. Strong beams of yellow light from giant spotlights in the grounds were shot up into the night sky, blinding the stars and I heard the fast footsteps of the security team that had been passing by the main driveway heading towards the house. Dogs were barking and people were shouting and Fang and I looked at one-another and made one of our famous split second decisions. "Flock!" I yelled, scrambling for the bedroom door. I felt Fang's hand on my shoulder and for a minute I thought he was going to drag me kicking and screaming into the corridor that led from the back of the closet down into the bunker under the house. I'd snap his hand off at the wrist if he tried. But all he did was pull me closer for a second before shouting over the noise of the siren into my ear, "Iggy and the Gasman were up late watching movies in the attic, I'll meet you with the girls!"  
I turned to kiss his cheek and sprinted off in the direction of Angel's room. She was ready and waiting, a pair of jeans pulled over her bare legs under her nighty, a determined look on her face. "Come with me," I said, taking her hand, "We have to get Nudge."  
Nudge's room was at the end of the corridor from Angel's and the two of us raced down it and smashed through the door, "Are we going into the bunker?" Nudge asked.  
I turned to see her standing on her desk with a heavy looking baseball bat in her hand. Since she was behind the door it was the perfect place to claim a surprise attack on an intruder, "Where the hell did you get that?" I demanded.  
She put the bat down by her side and shrugged, "I got Mason to teach me how to swing a bat properly, he let me borrow it."  
I pulled her off the desk and said to them both, "Listen, I don't care what the Government say, when you're under attack you do not hide somewhere with only one entrance. They could block us in and simply wait for us to starve to death or surrender." Neither Nudge or Angel looked surprised or interrupted, "Fang and I have another location out in the woods that in a much better position of defence, a fast flight and we're there but we don't know what we're dealing with."  
"Is it the Hunters?" Nudge's eyes betrayed no hint of the fear I felt coursing through me, but I squeezed her hand anyway.  
"It could be them or it could be a stray cat," I said, "We won't know until it's too late if we don't go now." The place Fang and I had found was remarkably similar to the bat cave in Virginia only this one didn't have any rot and not only was the entrance well concealed but if you followed it back and did a little caving, there was another cavern further down that was invisible from the cave itself, plus it had an escape route into the trees through a weak point in the rock. All we would need to do if they found us was smash through it and up and away. "Listen the cavern is a few miles North, towards the cliff face, you two stick on my ass you got that? I don't care what's going on around us you follow me until I tell you otherwise."  
"What about Mason?" Nudge asked and I hesitated.  
Since arriving at _White Feather _Mason really had become part of our home and family, but he wasn't flock and I had to protect my own first. "Mason is with the entire security task force, if it is the Hunters they will only be concerned with us anyway. He's a trained agent I'm sure he'll be fine, now come on!"  
The halls of our house were eerily dark and quiet, but I didn't give the three of us much time to get sad about the fact the place we'd been calling home suddenly felt as hostile as the School. I led the girls down the back stairs that opened up into the kitchen and through the pantry to the secret door that opened out into the shrubbery at the side of the Mansion. Even with their floodlights, night-vision gear, dogs and guns our military guards didn't notice three skinny shadows slip into the night sky and whoosh off into the trees… and that's why I hadn't bothered to follow protocol. The Hunters were pros, we might as well have had toy soldiers protecting us tonight.


	4. Protocol

_Okay there's a couple of short chapters coming up but I'll post 'em quick and then there should be a few longer chapters :) _

_-H_

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**Protocol.**

The cavern bellow the cave was cold, but we'd come prepared for that. Fang spread out the blankets and we all crawled underneath them. I spread out my left wing so that Angel could curl properly into my side and cocooned her in soft feathers. Someone squeezed my hand and I looked up to see Fang watching me with dark eyes, the warmest thing in this place. I put my head on his shoulder and he kissed my hair. "It'll be okay, there's no saying it was the Hunters."  
We'd been down here for almost three hours and the outside world had been silent. There was no noise from helicopters or gunshots. There was no disturbance in the cave above. And yet I didn't feel safe. "You don't know them," I murmured back as the rest of the flock fell slowly into a drowsy sleep. "They'll be patient. They won't come after us if they don't know where we are. They'll wait, until we're sure it's safe and be waiting for us."  
Fang gave me a hard look and I stopped rambling, "If it had been the Hunters it would have been so much more difficult for us to even reach here. You think we would have made it from the house? Max you're jumping at Shadows, it might be nothing."  
I found his words completely ironic but stayed silent. Maybe he was right, "We'll sleep here tonight," I said more confidently than I felt, "Then tomorrow we can leave the flock here and do a scout to the house and see what's going down." Or count bodies.

The next afternoon I was standing in the middle of the front lawn, surrounded by our security force, arms folded across my chest and frowning grumpily at Mason, our supposed-bodyguard and friend. He was obviously trying to keep his temper in check, but my less-than-compliant attitude was getting to him. He cast a huge shadow against the grass, standing around six feet four with shoulders twice mine and a chiselled jaw. His eyes were warm brown much like Nudge's, though I would guess his family originated in Cuba, and his hair was cropped short. "You're not listening to me."  
Characteristically Fang was silent beside me, and kept glancing my way every few seconds. Despite my resolve to hold my tongue out of sheer rage I snapped, "You had no right, you think you're responsible for the safety of my flock-"  
"I _am _responsible! And _you _were supposed to follow protocol!"  
"Your damn protocols were going to get us killed!"  
Fang sighed heavily, "Look Mason we understand that if anything happens to us, you guys will be held accountable- _but_ Max also has a point, the bunker wasn't a good option and we're used to looking after ourselves. Our safe zone is a much better option."  
"And yet you won't tell us where it is."  
"It's nothing personal," Fang insisted while I seethed. There had been no attack. The security team had organised a drill, without telling us, after they'd heard about the threat from the Hunters. They had wanted to check if their protocol was being followed… which of course it hadn't been. So while the flock were gorging themselves on cookies and milk in the kitchen, Fang and I were having safety procedures drilled into us by a very angry Mason. "And you guys can't just spring random alarm bells on us… we've had a past full of attacks in the night, this place wasn't supposed to have those built in." His eyes were dark as I'd ever seen them and I knew he was as angry as I was.  
I reached out and took his hand, "Don't let it happen again," I told Mason who clearly was going to get off easy, since I was too relieved it hadn't been my past to really chew him out. "And next time we'll leave and not come back, so just stop trying to mother us, okay?"  
I started to drag Fang in the direction of the kitchen and the chattering flock, but when we passed the library he suddenly yanked my hand to the side and through the door which he shut by pinning me against it. "Thank God it wasn't them," he said, burying his face in my hair.  
A few tears managed to escape before I realised just how scared I had been and I let him hold me against his chest for what felt like hours. "Next time we might not be so lucky," I whispered and he kissed me. "I won't let them have you."  
He might not have a choice.


	5. Waking Nightmares

_This one is short and little more intense, just warning people if you don't like blood etc. Also I know the reviews have been a little slow but the ones I have are great and I'm glad those who are reading this seem to be enjoying it. Thanks for the support guys! :)_

_-H_

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**Waking Nightmares**

_Facing myself in the mirror is one of the most difficult things I've ever done, and not because of vanity but because I have to look at myself and realise that I am not all the things I pretend to be, and I have to question how others who see my face to face every day can believe the lies I believe about myself. I am afraid, not strong. The bruises across my jaw and cheek prove it, my knuckles bare from harm as I was too weak to fight back. There are other bruises too, unseen ones and hidden ones all over me. Each a painful reminder. I shiver in the freezing air of the bathroom, preferring to feel like ice because warmth is too much like body heat, too much like someone pressing down on me, trapping me, using me. The razor in my hands is surprisingly light and for the first time since that night I am not afraid. I have never been afraid to die, only to truly live. Flesh slices away so easily I barely feel it and the scarlet blood stains the creamy skin of my wrists and dizziness overwhelms is a buzzing in my ears, a singing but through the growing dimness there is also someone pounding on the bathroom door. I know who it is but still I fear it's the other and slump against it in a last attempt to keep out the rest of the world. When he bursts through and finds me I can hear his screams echo through the halls as he yells for him, for my brother, for me to wake up. I find his body heat oddly soothing as I'm as cold as the tiles that project his voice and anguish. "Ryder no, please no, Ryder. Wake up, look at me! LOOK AT ME!" _

_I still see his face sometimes, through lidded eyes. His panic and his fear that I was lost. So much blood all over the bathroom, staining his shirt, my skin, seeping into the cracks in the floor. The silver razor lying just out of reach. I was too late to stop the attack that I'd come to know of, too late to know that I was too late. I'd tried to escape rather than fight, but I couldn't even do that properly any more. I don't think he ever forgave me for having him find me like that, for giving up. Freddie did. He understood a little more, he turned his disappointment in me to rage that had only one target; my abuser. We'd believed him a friend, but even as a rapist and a bastard they still never saw him as a traitor, the one who would open our doors to the Hunters and treat them like guests. He mapped out SHADE's destruction after claiming his prize: me. If only I'd killed him outright, or told Freddie sooner. But the words wouldn't come out right because of the drugs they gave me for the pain. He only let me tell my story once before he'd allowed the doctors in and vowed to be back with Caz's head. Through my sluggishness I'd tried to fight and form the words that would warn him about Caz's plans… but I wasn't strong enough, and when I woke the smoke from that building drew my towards his body and I knew that Caz had won. The razor hadn't brought me relief, it had brought me misery disguised as a distraction. It cut through me like my skin was silk, I remember it's cool sharpness like it rests against my wrists daily. _I remember waking from the dream to find myself in the present day, standing in the middle of the bathroom with misty eyes and bloody hands and feeling my scream of horror get stuck in my throat as my world once again, went black.


	6. Haunting the Hunted

_Okay guys, sorry to say that I'm off on holiday today for a -hopefully- chilled out and party week in Spain with my friends so even though this was intended to be a longer chapter, I've had to cut it short if I wanted to post anything before I go. Because I leave in like an hour. So enjoy and please review and I promise I'll write on the beach all holiday and post when I get home :) _

_-H_

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**Haunting the Hunted**

Later, when I asked myself what happened I didn't know what to tell myself, never mind anyone else. No one cuts their wrists in their sleep, but all I remember is dreaming about the first time I did and feeling my blood rush down over my fingertips as the life drained out of me. Even though I thought my scream had been caught in my throat I must have made some sort of noise, because Fang caught me before I hit the floor. His panicked voice sounding so much like the one from my dream, and all I could think was that I couldn't lose him too. I'm not sure how long I slept for, hours, maybe days, but when I woke he was beside me. It took me a moment to register in the low afternoon light of the room the bruised black circles under his sleepless eyes and the tight line of his lips. "Fang," I whispered and something danced in his eyes. If it was anger or disappointment I wasn't sure I could take it. Then suddenly he pulled me into his chest and wrapped his arms around me, "What the hell Max, I thought I'd lost you for good."  
"I'm sorry," I choked through my tears. "I- I didn't want- I don't know what happened!"  
"Shh… Angel was the other side of the door, she heard it all running through your head. You should have told me it had happened before."  
"You can't watch me sleep Fang, you can't protect me from my past or my mind-" Something suddenly dawned, "Oh God Angel heard! The flock- did they see, did they-"  
Fang took my face in his hands and looked down into my eyes, "They heard your scream and me yelling and came running, but I didn't let them see that, no one else saw, they just know."  
There was a lot of pain in his eyes and I touched our foreheads together, "I'm sorry _you _had to see that."  
"Never again," he murmured, his eyes closed. "Please Max I can't- I just can't."  
"I know."

We stayed like that, just holding each other, our foreheads pressed together and eyes closed until the light in the room had all but vanished as the sun set. After we broke away I dragged myself through a shower and shivered at the sight of my bandaged wrists. When I emerged from the bathroom alive and trying not to notice the stained tiles he was waiting with food. While I ate he talked me through what had happened. How Mason had dealt with the flock while he cleaned me up and how Angel had told them all how my dream had turned into a real life nightmare. His eyes were trained on me, "Why Max?"  
"It was the dream-" I started, my eyes on my soup.  
"No. The first time, why then?"  
I used my spoon to swirl the broth around the bowl, I could stomach anything else I'd told him. And now I'd have to stomach telling my story, because he deserved to know the truth. "You know what happened to me," I said very quietly, "The Hunters were planning their attack for months, we had a traitor, we knew that, we just didn't know who. And Freddie and I were digging, trying to find out, when I got too close." Fang was very still, "I've told you this before," I took a deep breath, "That I found out Freddie's best friend Caz was the double agent, but I didn't want Freddie to get hurt so I thought if I confronted him, if I could make him see what he was doing was- if he would come back to our side… instead he trapped me and raped me, scaring me enough to keep my mouth shut." I'd told him this before. The flock knew that I'd been attacked, but I'd told it all to Fang, until the last part. "And I couldn't decide what to do, what I had to tell Freddie now was so much worse than just his best friend was going to betray us. I knew the Hunters weren't just going after the top ranks of SHADE, but all the Shadows too. Caz had just found this out when I found him, it was one of the reasons he was so crazed, so unbelievably vindictive. But now I had to tell him what he'd done to _me_ too, and I didn't know how." I took a deep, slightly shaky breath, "But I also had to tell the others, my best friend, who I knew would hunt Caz to the ends of the Earth and I was afraid in their quest for vengeance they'd run headlong into the Hunters. I couldn't take it, and I ended up trying to take my own life…" I hoped he'd be able to fill in enough of the blanks because I wasn't sure I could explain any more, "When I woke up my best friend was part of the counter-attack and Freddie was dead. I never looked back."  
I looked up at Fang and he held out his arms so I could crawl into them. He kissed my hair gently, "Freddie would have gone to the ends of the Earth to get revenge for what Caz did to you, I can understand that feeling Max. I wasn't there but I'll hate him forever. And I know that you feel like your past is coming back to hunt you, but it can only _haunt _you if you let it. It'll hunt you but you can survive a hunt, it's when it settles in your soul that you can't shake it. I think you need to let go of your guilt, you were just a kid and someone you trusted abused you in unimaginable ways and then set out to destroy the people you loved… you'll spend your whole life wondering what would have happened if you did things differently and not focusing on the decisions your making now if you're not careful. Let go of the past, Max, otherwise you won't have a future."  
I kissed his cheek, "Thank you."  
"I love you," he chuckled, "And I'll spend my whole life wondering if things would have been easier if I didn't."  
I dug my elbow into his ribs, "Bastard."  
There was a knock at the door and the flock piled in. No one started questioning me, and no one mentioned my wrists. Instead we turned on the TV at the bottom of the bed and curled up in the blankets like we were in some kind of nest and fell asleep one by one.


	7. Hunting Chocolate Chips

_Okay doke so this is the first of two shorter chapters that I'm uploading tonight. I've been building as much background as I can to try and emphaise the consequences of Max's past and to give it enough depth but it's about time I launched into the real Hunt and the bulk of the plot (At least in my opinion) So the next two chapters and the kind of sweet short build-ups before things start to really kick-off. So as usual please let me know what you think :) _

_-H_

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**Hunting Chocolate Chips**

Fang was sitting by the window while Max and the rest of the flock messed around making cookies in the kitchen behind him. The smell of vanilla and warm chocolate was in the air and the rabble of the flock was familiar and comforting. Yet Fang was on edge.  
While Max and the flock had slept curled up together in their bed the night before, he had watched the moonlight travel across the ceiling, unable to make his brain shut up. He couldn't stop seeing the state Max had found herself in during her nightmare; breaking open the door to find her soaked in blood and fading. The reminder of the way the light had begun to drain from her warm eyes made him physically shake with fear. Angel suddenly looked over from her perch on the countertop where she was eating cookie dough from the mixing bowl. Her blue eyes were very wide as she listened to his inner-thoughts.  
_They'll find her eventually won't they? _Her small voice found its way inside his head. _This is just the beginning, she'll have to face her nightmares, won't she Fang?  
__Yes, _he thought back, _But we'll be there to support her. She won't be alone. I promise you Angel I won't let them drag her back into the past shadows.  
_She said no more and went back to hunting chocolate chips, but something in her sparkly eyes was troubled, did she not think he could save Max? Did she know something he didn't? His thoughts continued to spin and the kitchen emptied without him noticing. The kids had gone outside to stretch out on the deck by the pond and eat their baking. Only Max was left. She was leaning against the draining board by the sink, watching him quietly; the bandages on her wrists stood out against her sun-kissed skin and made his throat dry.  
"You look lost in thought," she mused.  
"What did Angel tell you?"  
Max pushed away from the counter, "She didn't have to tell me anything, I've known since that day that you're over-thinking everything, every second you're not sleeping. Though she did confirm that you're under the impression your going to have to be tragically heroic to save me from myself."  
A slight smirk pulled the corner of his lips, breaking the mask he'd been hiding behind, "You don't believe I can pull off tragically heroic?"  
"You don't need to." She was suddenly beside him, practically on his knee, pushing his dark hair off his forehead and running her hands through it. "I don't need you to take a bullet for me, I don't need you to die for me, Fang, I just need _you_. I just need you by my side, holding my hand, holding me back… just holding me?"  
His arms came around her and he met her bright eyes. An unspoken moment of something of love and trust passed between them and he sighed, "God you're infuriating, it's a good thing I'd have it no other way."  
Max smiled and tucked her head under his chin, feeling him press his lips into her hair. "Thank you, and I'm sorry I've put you through so much."  
"I'd forgive you for anything Max, but for my sanity, please don't ever ask me to let you go."

* * *

After I'd spoken to Fang in the kitchen I was feeling oddly… light. It was a strange kind of calm. I had left him playing tag a couple of metres above the surface of the pond with the Gasman and Angel and was staring at the phone that sat by the front door.  
Before I could change my mind I picked up the receiver and dialled. "Hello?" Her voice sang down the line and I almost hung up.  
"Dr Martinez-"  
"Max? Honey is that you?"  
I bit the inside of my cheek, I told you my mom and I were no longer speaking but maybe I should explain why. You see, she was part of SHADE. She donated the DNA that created Freddie and I and kept so many secrets I couldn't even begin to forgive her… but I could still use her help. "I want some information," I said in my steel tone and she went quiet. "On the few remaining members of SHADE."


	8. Echoes

_And now... _

* * *

**Echoes**

With the little information my mom managed to pass on to me I discovered three things:  
The first is that SHADE is somewhat still in operation, though their Shadows are not. The top-dogs as it were, apparently continued to build their empire in secret, waiting for the moment they could re-introduce their assassins.  
Secondly, Despite the fact that SHADE isn't employing them, several Shadows are still active in our previous line of work, or at least similar activities.  
And third, and perhaps most significant despite the fact it seemed such a small detail, although several previous Shadows have found untimely ends in the past year there is a small amount of evidence to suggest that they're re-grouping among themselves, out-with the company.  
I was thinking about this and the fact that it meant somewhere in the big wide world a group of my very powerful friends were sitting around waiting for the Hunters… safety in numbers and all that, when Fang came in with a cup of fresh coffee. "Now who is lost in thought?" he teased and I made myself smile at him.  
"My mom had a little information," I began, "That might lead us to some other Shadows."  
Fang was quiet.  
"I think we'd be safer in their company," I went on, "They know how to survive a hunt."  
Another beat of silence. "Do you trust them?"  
I thought about my answer, "No one is incorruptible, I know that. And people you trust can betray you, but there are certain members I'd trust with not just my life, but the flocks too." I pictured the few faces in my mind and wondered how they might have changed, if they were still alive, how I would find them… one in particular stood out. My old best friend, the one who found my the first time I had bandaged wrists and I was drawn into the memory of our parting. Him following me from the scene of my attempted suicide into the battle of the Reaping… getting separated when I left to follow my gut and my brother. The burning of the building and his hands on my shoulders, his voice in my ear, yelling at me to let go. In some ways I can never forgive him for making me leave Freddie behind, yet he saved my life.  
Oh to be friends with someone who does little but hurts you, usually for your own good. I took a deep breath and thanked Fang for the coffee, the argument of Stitch and I's parting argument, the most terrible we'd ever had, echoing in my mind.

* * *

_So you can probably see how I've had to build it up so that you can meet some new characters in a short while. Please let me know what you've liked and disliked so far and if you have any ideas you'd like to see or things that you think have been over-done in stories like this and would rather I stayed away from. :) _


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